Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press
Districted Driving: “Its you, not me.”
Distracted driving is incredibly dangerous and all too common. Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road while texting. When traveling at 55mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field — blindfolded.
Nationwide more than 400,000 people are injured or killed each year as a result of distracted driving. The Post-Gazette article quoted below conveys the importance of enacting and enforcing laws that discourage distracted driving. This underscores our city’s need for Vision Zero Plan, an approach to preventing traffic violence based on the notion that traffic fatalities and serious injuries are preventable. Such a strategy would make our streets safer for everyone but especially people walking, people biking, children and the elderly — our most vulnerable road users.
Challenge your friends, family, or coworkers to not engage in distracted driving
We were recently heard about a free app called SafeDrive which rewards the user for not using their cell phone while driving by giving discounts on products. It also allows user to challenge friends to see who is the safest driver. The app is available in the Google Play store and an iOS version is expected to launch this month. Check it out.
If you’re reading this while driving, you ought to stop.Wednesday marks the start of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The observance begins with a study and a survey that underscore the fact that many of us — especially teens — are not paying sufficient attention while operating the deadly weapons known as motor vehicles.
The study, commissioned by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, found that nearly 6 of 10 crashes involving teen drivers were preceded by distractions — interactions with other passengers, cell phone use, grooming or looking at something other than the road ahead.
In the survey, commissioned by Erie Insurance, drivers fessed up to a variety of distracting behavior: texting, smoking, singing or dancing, applying makeup, fussing with their hair and reading.
Telling was the statistic that 30 percent of drivers admitted texting, while 75 percent said they had seen someone else do it. The company headlined the finding, “It’s not me, it’s you.”
To read the full article visit the Post-Gazette website.
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